• Wall Street indices plunged yesterday. S&P 500 dropped 1.42%, Dow Jones moved 0.49% lower and Nasdaq slumped 2.51%. Russell 2000 dropped 0.76%

  • Declines on Wall Street are blamed on increasingly hawkish position of the Federal Reserve
  • Stocks in Asia also traded lower. Nikkei and Kospi dropped 1.3% while S&P/ASX 200 moved 1.1% lower. Indices from China also traded lower but declines were smaller than in other parts of the region
  • DAX futures point to a lower opening of the European session
  • White House confirmed that President Biden chose Sarah Bloom Raskin, Philip Jefferson and Lisa Cook as remaining Fed nominees
  • Fed’s Harker said that action on inflation is required. Fed’s Daly said it’s reasonable to hike rates in March. Fed’s Waller said that 3 rates hikes in 2022 are good baseline scenario but four or five hikes cannot be ruled out if inflation stays elevated
  • Chinese exports increased 20.9% YoY in December (exp. 20% YoY) while imports were 19.5% YoY higher (exp. 26.3% YoY). Trade balance for December showed a $94.46 billion surplus (exp. +$74.5 billion)
  • Japanese PPI inflation slowed from 9.0% to 8.5% YoY in December (exp. 8.8% YoY)
  • According to Reuters report, Tesla delayed start of Cybertruck production to Q1 2023
  • Major cryptocurrencies trade slightly higher today. Dogecoin rallies over 15% after Elon Musk said that Tesla merch is now buyable with Dogecoin
  • Precious metals trade higher while oil trades flat
  • CAD and JPY are the best performing major currencies while USD and CHF lag the most